NOLADrinks Show – 7-27-17 – Chef Michael Gulotta and Shōchū

On this edition of the NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias, it’s our first post-Tales of the Cocktail episode and the start of our retrospective coverage of the event. As a break from Tales, we interview award-winning New Orleans chef, Michael Gulotta, co-owner and executive chef of MoPho and Maypop. We also, as a part of our series of Tales of the Cocktail interviews, talk Shōchū with Toshio Ueno of Mutual Trading, Inc. and more!

Pictured above from left – Chef Michael Gulotta of MoPho and Maypop and Bryan Dias of NOLADrinks.

The NOLADrinks Show – 7-27-17 – Chef Michael Gulotta and Shōchū

We start things off talking about some news from the New Orleans restaurant world – namely, the closure of Café Henri in the Bywater as well as some talk about the potential for three burger joints all existing in Lakeview. This, of course, is connected to our ongoing discussions on the show regarding the restaurant business in-town.

We then chat about Tales of the Cocktail, something we will do much more of, with some thoughts now that the event has passed. This includes some musings on the event, how we will talk about it moving forward, and a couple highlights we really enjoyed (with more to come.)

Next up, Toshio Ueno (pictured at left with Bryan Dias) of Mutual Trading, Inc., based in Los Angeles joins the show. We taped this segment during Tales as part of our sessions at Sylvain (thanks to them for hosting us all week!) Toshio is a certified Saké sommelier and educator on that beverage as well as Shōchū.

The latter is our focus in this fascinating conversation about the Japanese distillate, which is enjoying growth in the market and becoming more popular in cocktail circles. We talk about what the beverage is, some on how it’s made, it’s history, and much more. Certainly, we taste a couple nice ones! If you’re curious about Shōchū, you’ll want to check this out!

In the second half of the show, we take a break from our Tales of the Cocktail coverage. We chat with award-winning and rising star chef, Micheal Gulotta. A New Orleans native with a pedigree in the culinary world that is second-to-none, Michael is making waves in the area and beyond with his two spots – MoPho and Maypop!

We talk about his interesting culinary background coming up with noted chefs like Donald Link, John Besh, John Folse, and Pete Vazquez, as well as studying abroad in Italy and Germany. His career was inextricably tied to post-Katrina New Orleans – it’s a fascinating story of a quick rising trajectory. We also talk about how he got into cooking, firehouse kitchens, and even bicycles (a very interesting story in the history of New Orleans, actually!)

Below the map that highlights some of the locations featured on the show, you can subscribe to, stream, and download The NOLADrinks Show podcast.

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan